Skewered by a Nose: Pinnochio and Politics July 15, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in 3-D work, Analogy, Pinocchio, Political and Social Art, Toys.Tags: Analogy, political Pinocchio, political satire, Politics and art
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Pinocchio and politics are not strange bedfellows. Carlo Collodi (the pen name of Carlo Lorenzini) was very much a a product of tumultuous political times in 19th century Italy when he wrote Pinnocchio in 1881. Situations that occur in The Adventures of Pinocchio in many ways reflect Italy’s social policy towards children at the time (see Carl Ipsen’s book ” Italy in the Age of Pinocchio: Children and Danger in the Liberal Era“). Over the years the image of a visibly growing nose to illustrate political lying has become as iconic (and sometimes cliché) as pinoke himself.
(above) Fold out cover of the August 1972, (No. 29) National Lampoon. Nixon as Pinocchio with Henry Kissinger as Jiminy Cricket. Illustration by Robert Grossman
(above) President George Bush as Pinocchio in Germany, Feb. 2004. (Photo by Ina Fassbender)
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(above) The Chicago Tribune offered a fold-up version of Illinois state Senator Roland Burris as Pinocchio.
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(above) Protesters wearing (german politican) Roland Koch-pinocchio masks in Frankfurt January 2008.
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Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives everyone lies at some point or another (At least so the other side claims). Death isn’t the great equalizer, Pinocchio is. In some cases all you need is some basic photoshop skills and you too can perform a political rhinoplasty.
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(above) G8 leaders
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Pinocchio/The Dark Side June 30, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in 3-D work, Pinocchio, Puppets, Summer Reading Project.Tags: dark side, death, mask, Pinocchio, Pinocchio tattoo, Skeleton, Vampire Slayer
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“Number 3 Chris Slipknot mask is an official licensed mask from Morbid Industries. … (the) mask is a bondage style Pinocchio latex mask, … The nose on this slipknot mask is approximately 4.5 inches long“
A Giant (Pinocchio?) skeleton at The Palazzo Reale in Milan by artist Gino De Dominicus titled “Calamita Cosmica”
Pinocchio’s death- an installation at the Guggenheim Museum in New York (2008) by artist Maurizio Cattelan, (titled Daddy Daddy)
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(above) Zombie Pinocchio Tattoo ( courtesy of BMEzine.com)
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(above) Pinocchio’s Revenge , the 1996 horror film. “…..Evil comes with strings attached”. You can’t beat that as a tagline.
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(above) Pinocchio Vampire Slayer A graphic novel coming September 2009 drawn by Dustin Higgins and written by Van Jensen. Pinoke uses his nose as a wooden stake to kill the undead. If you look closely at the bottom right hand panel the vampire is saying with his dying breath ” Killed by a nose…how humiliating”.
Pinocchio-1001 Uses June 30, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in 3-D work, Industrial Design, Pinocchio.add a comment
Possibly it’s the material aspect of Pinocchio that has inspired designers to turn our iconic wooden friend into something utilitarian. His nose seems particularly handy for a number of things. I suppose form really does follow function.
A Pinocchio tape measure (Kim and Jason’s Lemonade Stand)
The copy reads: “Add a colorful touch to your bathroom with Pinocchio Toilet Brush. Any kid young or old would like this naughty brush in their bathroom. Cute and practical, Pinocchio’s nose substitutes the handle, while the brush is Pinocchio’s smiling face and his cap is the brush stand. Poor Pinocchio has to do the toilet cleaning also for all the lies he said.” (Gizmodiva.com)
From Italy a plastic Pinoke funnel (by Alessi)
A set of cards available to teachers to be used as measuring exercises in elementary school.
A clothes line by industrial designer Francesco Castiglione Morelli (Outlook Design Italia)
A toothpick dipenser created by David Tsai (davidtsai.net)
A Picture For A Thousand Voices June 22, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Political and Social Art, Public art, Student work.Tags: A Picture For A Thousand Voices, Evan Turk, Gay Art
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Concepts class alum, Evan Turk has initied a wonderful project titled :
and has posted a call for submissions/participants to the project. A Picture For A Thousand Voices …”is is a project to help create a dialogue about the individual hopes for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equal rights movement through the medium of illustration. ” Artists (and writers) are asked to submit artwork depicting their hopes for equal rights for the LGBT community or a relevant story depicting their experiences and send it to Evan at evan@evanturk.com. If you’re a writer looking for an artist or an artist looking for a story to illustrate Evan might be able to facilitate a collaboration. The project’s address is picturefor1000voices.blogspot.com/ where you can read about the project, see submissions and read the parameters for the project.
Above are two silkscreens by Evan titled “Holding Hands” that are starting off the project. Please pass on info about the projectand check out Even’s blog, or better yet submit something. Also take a look at Evan’s earlier May 6th post on this site about Gay Art.
-Thanks
Pinocchio…”I’ll be back” May 11, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Comics, Graphic Novels, Pinocchio, Puppets, Summer Reading Project, Visually Cool & Relevant.Tags: Pinocchio, Vincent Parannaud, Winshluss
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Like the Terminator he seems to reference, Pinocchio is back, this time channeled through well known French comix artist Winshluss. His retelling of the classic children’s story was awarded the Fauve d’or (best comic book prize/ Gold Fauvre) at the 37th Angoulême International Comics Festival in France this year. Winshluss, is the pen name of Vincent Parannaud who might also be familiar to some as co-director with Marjane Satrapi on her animated film Persepolis.
Winshluss has created a wonderfully dark, comic noir interpretation of Carlo Collodi’s classic children’s story. The artwork is primarily done in pen and ink, and watercolor but switches to paint for larger splash panels. He references a terrific range of illustrative styles and history in the story from late 18th century pen and ink, to early French film pioneer Georges Méliès , through early Disney (don’t ask what indignities Snow White endures within these pages), and underground comix.
Disney’s 1940 animated Pinoccho seems to have become the definitive version here in the U.S., Winshluss work is much closer to Collodi than Disney in spirit. Like Collodi’s originally serialized story of the wooden marionette, Winshluss updated version was first published as serialized chapters in Ferraille Illustré, a French comics journal. Winshluss’ graphic novel is an adult noir movie that at times is both comedy and tragedy. The narrative begins with a shooting, and then flashes back to Pinocchio’s creation (he is now a robot like android) and his subsequent adventures. Collodi’s original story, which is also darker (Pinocchio is hung, Jiminy Cricket is killed…) than Disney’s version and was first intended as an adult story. Both versions portray Pinocchio going from one manipulative situation to another. Winshluss has also injected politics into his story which also played a part in Collodi’s original.
The Angoulême site described the book as an “Opera”, which it is in it’s visual lushness and drama. For the most part the book is wordless, with multiple character’s points of view all adding to the sum of Pinocchio’s story. Jiminy Cafard (Cafard translates as cockaroach as well as hypocrite and a feeling of severe depression), Pinochio’s companion provides the most talking in the book which seems appropriate, and provides comic relief.
Most of his appearances are rendered in black and white. As of now Winshluss’ Pinocchio is only available in French (which won’t stop you from enjoying it even if you’re not a French speaker) and through overseas online merchants . Hopefully it will be distributed in the states in the near future.
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All images © Winshluss and or Les Requins Marteaux
Gay Art: It’s More Than Just Men Having Sex! May 6, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Art History, Political and Social Art, Student Post.Tags: Evan Turk, Gay Art, Gay Rights Movement Art, J.C. Leyendecker, Keith Haring, Raphael Perez
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Post by Evan Turk
In my research for my semester final project of creating posters about the gay rights movement, I searched for inspiration from other artists who had created political and social art related to the gay community. What I found, is that there is not as much to be found as one might expect. Most “gay art” falls into the realm of the erotic and very little else falls outside of that. There is no shortage of famous gay artists (Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Jean Cocteau, Paul Cadmus, David Hockney, Francis Bacon), though most of them were closeted. For the most part, any gay-themed art they created was focused on eroticism.
A prominent gay artist who was extremely influential in gay history in America is Keith Haring. Haring was a prominent artist in the 80’s and 90’s in New York City who created simple and largely symbolic work in the vein of pop art and graffiti art. As a victim of AIDS himself, Haring created many of the images that are still used today for AIDS prevention groups as well as gay organizations. An interview with Keith Haring by David Sheff for Rolling Stone (Aug. 1989) can be found at Haring.com as well as an art database.
(Top) “Silence = Death” “Ignorance = Fear” (Bottom)“Untitled” (All images copyright the Keith Haring Foundation)
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Another artist that gives an interesting illustration of gay life is J. C. Leyendecker. Leyendecker was an American illustrator in the 20th century known for his fashion advertisements and illustrated covers of the Saturday Evening Post, preceding Norman Rockwell’s reign at the magazine. His work, which is all commercial work, has a rather subtle (or other times not so subtle) gay undertone. In a few paintings, at first glance it seems to be a few sailors looking flirtatiously at a young woman, but upon closer inspection, the men actually appear to be looking at each other with her just kind of standing in the way.
(Above) Arrow Collars and Shirts advertisement (1907)
(Above) The House of Kuppenheimer Advertisement (1918)
(Above) “Kuppenheimer Advertisement – Good Team Work”
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Perez is an artist born in 1965 and raised in Jerusalem. He now lives in Tel-Aviv and creates work that often deals with homosexual themes and relationships. As stated on his website “His paintings put to test the boundaries between eroticism and art, while characterizing gay relationships and love as they are expressed in everyday life.” Although his work contains mostly male nudes, the subject matter is often non-erotic. He depicts family scenes and everyday life for gay couples, instead of just the sexual aspects of a gay relationship.
(Above) Untitled
(Above) Gay Wedding
(Above) Gay Daily Life courtesy of www.gaypaintings.com
As homosexuality becomes more accepted in modern culture, there will be less sexual repression and most likely, less of an emphasis on only erotic art. This leaves the door open for a different step in the gay art movement.
Boak Who? May 2, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Student Post, Uncategorized.Tags: Dick Boak, Martin Guitars art, pen and ink, Victoria Salvador
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By Victoria Salvador
Dick Boak is a long time guitar builder who works for Martin Guitars. He’s currently the director of ‘Martin Guitar Artist and Limited Editions’, which is a series of beautifully crafted instruments that are uniquely made through collaborations. He is better known and famous for working for Martin Guitars, finding artwork of his from the 70s was not easy. I know of Dick Boak because I sit in front of his lithograph everyday at my desk, and yet- I have never chose to really explore his work. His pen and ink drawings as well as his lithographs are impressive, imaginative, and extremely detailed.
(Above) Elephants, 1976
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Reading through an interview I found in Modern Guitars Magazine with Boak, I found out that graphic art was his original profession:
Modern Guitars Magazine: Life before Martin Guitar?
Dick Boak: I started out as an illustrator and art teacher. One of the teachers at the Blair Academy, a private school that has about 400 students, up in New Jersey, was having some difficulty reaching the right rapport with his students. They weren’t responding. He asked me to work with him in order to connect with the students better and that lasted for about two years.
* In the interview, Boak speaks about getting hired with Martin, was let go, and then asked to come back. He began illustrating again in his free time.
MGM: You returned…
DB: The guy who fired me kept it a bit of a secret. Fortunately, when everyone found out about it, they wanted me back. Frank Martin, his father “Mr. Martin” and his grandson Chris (Christian Frederick Martin IV) and the guys in the production shop didn’t know I’d been fired. While I was “on sabbatical”, I worked on an illustration of a D-28 and eventually published it. My artistic interest or specialty is to make very detailed, highly intricate drawings through a method artists call pointillism. I thought of it as hippie art, sort of San Francisco art nouveau.
Anyway, I was hired back during the strike and worked final assembly, and through the years I’ve worked in a lot of different areas at Martin, learning from the ground up.
(Above) D-28, 1977
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Boak’s illustrations are distinctive in style and visually delicate. His line work is hair-line fine, and his use of pointillism is a complimentary contrast to his flat white backgrounds he employs. Looking over his work, I see a strong resemblance to M, C . Escher’s work, even if this was unintentional. His subject matter, symmetry, and attraction to illusions gives me this impression.
(Above left) Wheel Of Balance, 1974 by Dick Boak (Above right) Angels and Devils By M.C. Escher
(Above) The Vine of Harmonics designed by Boak. Ivory inlay on a 12-string Cutaway Martin. The harmonic locations of the strings on the frets are marked by the vine pattern
The interview witth Modern Guitars Magazine : http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/000500.html
Dick Boak’s art is ©Dick Boak and from : http://www.dickboak.com/website/Art.html
MTA Arts in Transit Guest Visit April 29, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Art History, Guest Visits, Public art.Tags: Amy Hausmann, Guest speaker, MTA Arts In Transit, Subway station proposal
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(Above) Barbara Segal’s “Muhheakantuck (The River that Flows Two Ways), Aluminum reliefs on train overpass (2005) on the Hudson Line /Yonkers
On Monday (April 20th), Amy Hausmann (below-left), the Assistant Director of MTA Arts for Transit, paid a visit to our class to speak abo
ut her department’s mission and role in commissioning artists for site specific, public artwork in the New York transit system.
Statistics on the amount of people using the transit system is staggering, approx. 8 million commuters on a given weekday. That’s per day. Asking for a show of hands of how many students (our class was joined by Wendy Popp’s concepts class.) view art work in the subway during their daily commute, it was an overwhelming majority. This was not always the case. My memory of subway stations while growing up in the 60’s and 70’s is one of decaying, vandalized public spaces. The way we presently experience the subway (and the LIRR and Metro-North) is a testament to the work MTA Arts for transit has done over the last 25 years to change the way we look at the shared public space of the transit system.
Amy started her powerpoint presentation pointing out that from the subway’s inception a mandate was built into it’s mission statement to create and design a visually beautiful public space, “…and enhance the experience of travel.” As Amy stressed , very forward thinking for 1904. MTA Arts for Transit’s budget for projects is derived from a portion of the renovation budget of the station/space to be refurbished. So art works are installed or planned only for a station that is being rehabilitated or improved.
(Above) Art en Route, A pocket guide to art in the MTA Network that was passed out during the visit. You can e-mail a request for a copy at the MTA Art for Transit site.
Amy brought with her pocket guides to some of the art in the MTA system. it’s organized by subway line with called out images of art installations. There is also a book, “Along the Way” by Sandra Bloodworth , Director of MTA Arts for Transit, and William Ayres, curator at the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook. Looking through the guide and book gives you a sense of the varied range of art in the transit system, both in concept and in materials. Donald Lipski’s inverted olive tree
with crystals at Grand Central Terminal, Walter Martin’s and Paloma Munoz’s Canal Street station filled with 174 grackles and blackbirds…the subway is one big art museum.
A number of illustrators have created art for the transit system; Raul Colon, Owen Smith, Milton Glaser, Dave Calver, George Bates (Parsons Illustration Dept. instructor), Peter Sis, Jose Ortega, Edward Del Rosario (Parsons Illustration Dept. instructor) to name a few. In that spirit, finishes for the class assignment of creating proposals for site specific art in individual subway stations were also up on the wall during Amy’s visit. she graciously agreed to critique them and offer her professional opinion .
You can view the entire assignment sheet I handed out in a previous post. In a nut shell, each student created artwork for a subway station of their choice. In the course of creating a proposal students researched the history of the area/station and took into account the 
make up of the community it serves. Each student attempted to integrate their art with the architecture of the station in some way.
Below are some of the assignments.
P(Left) Amy Hausmann criting a student’s proposal
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Paula Searing: Wall Street
Rather than work with Bulls and Bears , I was struck with horses because they can be both graceful and rampant like Wall street’s sides of prosperity and cut throat behavior. The original art is done in acrylic paint, sprayed over stencils.
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Mark Lev: 50th Street
50th Street station ( the 1, 2, 3 line). My subway installation is interactive (a musical component) as well as aesthetic. It consists of several Hang drums (developed in 2000 in Berne Switzerland) of various sizes and tunings, installed into the subway wall. In the above mural they are the blue spheres with darker blue round indentations. The drums can be played without any special tools and create resonant, ghostly tones similar to a steel drum. The effect of several people playing them would be a mass of tones echoing throughout the station creating an eerie but sonorous atmosphere. Colorful, circular tile patterns around each drum seem to ripple across the wall, evoking ideas of sound waves, water droplets, and mimicking the sound qualities of the drums.
Here is a link to a video of the Hang drum being played http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEJc2wKkwjM&feature=PlayList&p=D12F8B5F76C1C4E8&index=32 it’s a very distinctive sound .
William Crosby: Smith-9th Street Subway Station Gowanus
The Smith/9th Street Station · Opened in 1933. The station has the distinction of being the highest elevated station in the system. The station was originally built elevated 91 feet to accommodate tall-mast shipping in the Gowanus Creek under the station.
Evan Turk: Greenpoint Ave. Station Brooklyn
Evan’s mural is a narrative based on the Lenape Indian legend of Rainbow Crow. The Rainbow Crow brings fire from the Great Spirit in the sky to the earth. But due to the smoke he no longer is rainbow-colored , but a black crow. This myth was chosen to reference the Lenape Indians indigenous to the Greenpoint area.
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Julian Uribe: ” Cultural Intertwine” Jackson Heights (7, E, F, G, R, V)
Jackson Heights is one of the most culturally diverse neighborhoods and the first garden city in the five boroughs of New York City. I realized in every culture found in Jackson Heights the frog is a common symbol of nature, peace, and power. Ethnic patterns unite with the frog symbol in my design for the station, all of which I hope allow the neighborhood to be more in touch with their diverse ethnic community .
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Julie Pinzur: ” The Bleecker Farm” Bleecker Street (the 6 train)
Ceramic mosaic on walls near the subway exit. Anthony Bleecker, who the street was named after, along with his family owned the land where the station now stands. The scene shows farmland, which is representative of this area in the 1800s. Anthony Bleecker was also one of the founders of the New York Historical Society, and was a trustee of the New York Society Library.
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Naomi Koffman: ” Ghost” 72nd Street/Central Park West
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Jenel Lawson: Lexington Ave. 63rd St. Station
Near this station four embassys are located; France, Italy, Pakastan and India. Different color strands of thread represent each country and stich part of the globe.
Posting to the Class Blog/Students April 20, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Class Assignments, Student Blog posts, Student Post.Tags: Student blog post guidelines
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Due dates for your posts are listed in the syllabus. I will do the actually posting so don’t worry about the technical side. I will also be acting as your editor.
Your post should be about something visual. I am not expecting it to be a term paper. Think short, 175-250 words. You can write a longer or shorter post it really depends on your subject and how clear and succinct you can be in your writing.
Subject Matter
- An artist you think is noteworthy. A neglected/forgotten artist who is relevant today
- Your take on a visual trend. (Is this really the first time this trend has appeared?)
- An aspect of art history.
- A collection of things you’ve seen or have (as long as it has a wider audience).
- An event. You can report on going to Comic con, MoCCA, etc.
- Interview an artist, designer, art director etc.on a project they’re working on.
- An illustrated book, the art of a movie (animated or not).
- How to create/construct something (talk about this with me first).
Almost everything is fair game. This is a class blog though , not your personal blog, so while I applaud your enthusiasm… keep “…Dudes!, this shit is the bomb, you have to check out…..” to a minimum please.
Do Not
- Write a post about your own artwork. Something you’re involved in might be okay, (Run it past me).
- Don’t post about another blog. If you find something interesting somewhere write about the original source material. Add new information to what is already out there, or a new viewpoint.
Things to Keep in Mind:
- Lists can be great on a blog, they’re short and to the point, but make sure you also comment on your choices. Why did you select them? What is the common thread? Compare and contrast images and content.
- Think short sentences. Make your main points as clear as possible.
- Do some research. I can’t stress this enough. It will lead you to never before uncovered stuff. Be original
- Come up with a A good title.
- Provide some links.
- Respect the copyrights of others. Attribute works to their authors. If a source you’re posting an image from asks you to e-mail for permission, then please do so. Just because another site does not list the artist’s name or title of the piece it doesn’t mean you don’t have to.
- Explain who or what you are taking about. Don’t assume the reader knows. ex. instead of writing “…his work looks like Thomas Hart Benton’s” Explain who Benton is. ex. “…his work looks similar to 20th century American muralist Thomas Hart Benton”.
Include
- A list of key words and categories for me to include in the post.
- Images as examples (we’ll cover the specs in class)
- Captions with your images, names and dates, some identifying sentence…
Wild Pilgrimage by Lynd Ward April 16, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Books, Political and Social Art, Printmaking, Student Post.Tags: Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward, Novels without words, Paula Searing, Wild Pilgrimage
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Post by Paula Searing
Recently I read Wild Pilgrimage by Lynd Ward. It really blew me away, and I was surprised to have not heard of him before. Wild Pilgrimage, published in 1932, (by Harrison Smith and Robert Hass, Inc. New York) is comprised of 95 wood engravings and was originally described as a wordless novel. It’s one of the precursors to today’s 
graphic novel. Ward’s novel tells the story of a young man as he navigates through the racism, injustice, and poverty issues America faced during the 1930’s.
(Left) An illustration of the young man from Wild Pilgrimage.
Lynd Ward (b. 1905-d. 1985) was an American artist who worked from the 1920’s well into the 1980’s. While attending the National Academy of Graphic Arts in Leipzig, Germany in the the late 1920’s , Ward was exposed to the work of German artist Otto Nukel and Belgian artist Frans Masereel. Also working in woodcuts and engravings, Masereel is among the first wordless novelists , publishing Passionate Journey in 1919. After studying printmaking in Germany for a year (1926-1927),Ward returned to the U.S. and would eventually complete five wordless novels in his lifetime; God’s Man 1929, Madman’s Drum 1930, Wild Pilgrimage 1932, Prelude to a Million Years 1933, Song Without Words 1936, and Vertigo in 1937. His career also encompassed children’s books, and illustrations for classics such as Beowulf and Frankenstein.
“In the American experience there is probably no more basic or recurrent impulse than to leave society. It is a madness- or a sanity- that can take hold of any citizen when the daily grind becomes suddenly more abrasive than anyone should be asked to endure; when the crush of too many people in too small a space is finally more than one can take; when the noise and smells of the city are at last too stifling to be borne. Then the urge to pick up and leave, to get away somehow, is irresistible. Surely, the impulse whispers in your ear, it is not inevitable that I should live and die in this hellhole; surely, there is more to the world and to life than this.”
-Lynd Ward on Wild Pilgrimage
(Above) Two engravings from the book.
It amazed me how particular the depictions in the novel are to the Great Depression in America, but the story still has a universal message. The dual narrative made it much more of a personal navigation through a political situation or setting.
Below are two consecutive panels from the novel, introducing the main character for the first time. On the left is one of the reality panels, showing the protagonist looking back at an industrial setting, factories blowing smoke in the background, stifling and claustrophobic. The one on the right, printed in a redish- orange, shows an inner narration of the main character, struggling to break through bars. The color narration is used throughout the whole novel, creating metaphors as the story goes on.
(Above Left) “Reality” panel introducing main protagonist in Wild Pilgrimage (Above right) a “Dream” panel of main protagonist in Wild Pilgrimage
The term “Political Art” holds a certain stigma for me, and that may speak for a number of us. Wild Pilgrimage is one of those pieces that skillfully balances what it is to make political art, and what it is to be a human. Wards work reminded me of the contemporary poster artist Luba Lukova, who came to speak at the Picturing Politics Symposium at The New School. During the symposium she referred to herself not as a political artist but as a human expressing her reactions to what is going on in the world.
(Above) Luba Lukova’s “The dried up mother earth, in her arm a screaming baby – a symbol of the self destroying treatment of men with nature.” (www.lukova.net/)
Lynd Ward’s wordless novels are enjoying a resurgence and are available as paperback reprints. Wild Pilgrimage can also be read in Graphic Witness: Four Wordless Graphic Novels edited by George A. Walker.
